Melbourne Victory have ended Brisbane Roar's five-game unbeaten run by storming to a 4-0 triumph over the A-League leaders at AAMI Park.
The first goal of the damaging scoreline came in the fifth minute when Fahid Ben Khalfallah sent the ball inside the near post after latching on to a threaded pass from Gui Finkler.
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Brisbane were visibly shaken as they struggled to keep the hosts out at the back, and by the 11th minute they were already two goals down.
A slip from Jade North allowed Kosta Barbarouses to latch on to the loose ball before sliding it into the back of the net.
Shortly after the goal, Oliver Bozanic came close to contributing to the scoreline when he stormed into the box, but his shot fizzed across the face of goal and fell just wide of the target.
The away side managed to hold off the onslaught for around 10 minutes, but that was as good as it got as Barbarouses netted his second of the day by heading the ball past goalkeeper Jamie Young.
After the break, Matt McKay tried to turn things around for Brisbane by breaking into the middle of the box before going to ground, but the referee did not deem there to be enough contact to award a penalty.
Victory continued to dominate as they found their fourth goal in the 52nd minute when Besart Berisha required a simple tap-in after Ben Khalfallah made the pass.
In the build up to the goal, Corona was caught in possession and the ball eventually fell to Matthieu Delpierre, who unleashed a shot, but it bounced off the post.
It was a difficult night for Young, but he did manage to pull off a decent save to prevent Berisha from doubling his tally and giving Victory a fifth goal.
Brisbane remain top with a one-point lead, while Victory are third, but have reduced the gap between themselves and the leaders to four points.
Danielle Joynson
